HYDERABAD: In a major shift in the education system, the Board of Intermediate Education (BIE), Andhra Pradesh has proposed removal of the intermediate first year public examinations and conduct of second year exams only.
The move aims at reducing the examination pressure on students and achieving equivalence with other boards, including the CBSE and other state boards, which do not have board exams for Class 11, BIE Secretary Kritika Shukla told the media.
The BIE has proposed several reforms in education system after considering suggestions and recommendations of students, their parents, educators, and other stakeholders.
The reforms focus on syllabus, combinations of subjects, exam patterns and exam stress. In alignment with the National Curriculum Framework (NCF-2023), reforms have been proposed for concise and learning outcome-based content to encourage deeper understanding and engagement with topics.
As per BIE AP, no revisions were made to the Intermediate syllabus since years, and this necessitates a revision of syllabus and text books. A total of 14 committees have been constituted for the syllabus revision plan.
It has proposed to make a second language subject as elective and introduce additional subject to provide more options to the students.
NCERT-based curriculum
“For first-year students, the NCERT-based curriculum will be implemented from 2025-26 academic year, while the second-year students will shift for NCERT textbooks in 2026-27 academic year,” said Kritika Shukla.
The BIE has also proposed to realign subject-wise total marks and weightage between theory and internal/practical exams as per the CBSE pattern. It proposes introduction of one-mark questions in multiple choice questions (MCQs) format, fill-in-the-blanks, and one-word answers in the board examination. The weightage of essay type questions will also be reduced from eight marks to five-six marks.
The proposals also seek to enhance students’ readiness for competitive exams such as JEE, NEET, and others.
The intermediate first year exam will be held internally by junior colleges based on the syllabus and blueprint given by the BIE, while the second-year board examinations will be conducted by BIE based on 2nd year syllabus.
Suggestions and feedback
Suggestions and feedback on the proposal can be sent by January 26 on the email id at biereforms@gmail.com. The modalities of the proposed reforms including the subject-wise revised syllabus are being uploaded on BIE website: https://bieap-gov.org/index.html.